This invention relates to the field of containers for storing and displaying articles and also particularly to the field of containers for storing and displaying compact discs.
As advances in technology allow many familiar products to be reduced in size, retailers struggle to keep up. There are many advantages to miniaturization, but the new small products also have become more susceptible to theft and more difficult to display, and their diminished visual presence may reduce sales.
Pilferage is often a significant problem for retailers and as products become smaller, the problem becomes more serious. Smaller products are obviously easier to conceal, but smaller products also make it more difficult to implement theft deterring measures, including use of electronic security devices.
The shelves or fixtures used by the retailers are sometimes designed to present specific products in a flattering way and often incorporate anti-theft features. When a product's size is changed, the current fixtures may not be able to adapt to and efficiently display the new product. The retailer can be faced with the cost of modifying or replacing the fixturing.
Packaging and visual appeal are always key elements in the successful marketing of a product. Miniaturized products often lack the visual presence of their larger predecessors and may sell poorly for this reason alone.
The practice of selling compact discs (also referred to herein as "CDs") in large outer packages is a good example of retailers responding to product miniaturization. The now widespread acceptance of the 5-inch CD has almost completely eliminated the production of 12-inch record albums. CDs are packaged in "jewel boxes" comprising a shallow box with one or two hinged covers and a separate tray component to hold each CD. The jewel box measures approximately 5.times.51/2 inches, which is considerably smaller than the 12.times.12-inch record album that it replaces.
When CDs were first introduced, retailers had no place to display the small and relatively expensive product. Subsequently, retailers requested that CDs be packaged to fit existing record album store fixtures. Record distributors responded by supplying each CD and its jewel box in a 6.times.12-inch outer package ("long box") with full color graphics. The 6.times. 12-inch format could form two columns of CDs in a bin designed to hold one column of record albums. The 12-inch height and large graphics allowed record buyers to feel comfortable flipping through a rack of the new CDs. The added size also acted to deter theft.
Now that hundreds of millions of CDs are being sold in the United Sates each year, the practice of packaging CDs in large outer packages has created considerable waste disposal and environmental problems.
Accordingly, there is a significant need for packaging that minimizes waste but still meets the retailers' requirements for security, fixturing, and visual appeal. Solutions to this problem should preferably also try to solve other drawbacks of the known designs. Jewel boxes are difficult to open and close, especially for people with small hands or people with limited manual dexterity. Elaborate devices are sometimes needed to help people open jewel boxes. (See, e.g., Zusy, U.S. Pat. No. 4,928,816.) The known jewel boxes are easily broken, especially where the thin legs that form the hinges meet the cover. Jewel boxes are also difficult to store and usually require special racks or shelves. Booklets containing lyrics and the like often accompany compact discs, but such booklets are not easily removed from, or returned to, their jewel boxes.
Several retailing procedures have been developed to eliminate the 6.times.12-inch outer package and still control theft, but all of these procedures require extra effort by the retailer. In one version, clear plastic envelopes containing only the lyric booklets are displayed. The consumer receives the compact disc and the jewel box at the check-out counter. In another case, jewel boxes are displayed on circular files, and only a sales clerk can detach the jewel box from the file. Jewel box flip systems are also employed, in which empty jewel boxes are displayed and customers flip through and remove their selections. The compact discs are housed in protective shields at the check-out counter and are reinserted into their jewel boxes upon purchase. Reusable long plastic frames (often called "keepers") are sometimes employed to display the jewel boxes, but usually a store employee must release the jewel box from the frame for purchase.
Still other alternatives require expensive security measures. Jewel boxes alone can be shrink wrapped and displayed for sale, but the palm sized boxes/discs require additional security devices as compared to the long box to prevent shoplifting. Tags have been developed that contain both price and electronic security information, but many retailers, especially smaller retailers, cannot afford the required anti-theft equipment.
Containers for storing or displaying articles are well known. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,694,954; 4,702,369; 4,718,547; 4,759,442; 4,760,914; 4,771,883; 4,773,061; 4,805,769; 4,871,065; 4,881,640; 4,899,875; and 4,916,567; and PCT Application WO 87/05884. (All of the documents identified herein, including the foregoing, are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties for all purposes.)
Some of the above-referenced documents relate to frames for displaying CDs. Gelardi (U.S. Pat. No. 4,760,914) concerns a one-piece container for removably securing a compact disc or compact cassette. The CD jewel box is inserted into a securing well within a container. Gregerson (U.S. Pat. No. 4,759,442) concerns a structure for holding an article such as a jewel box. Retainer bars hold the article within the structure, and the article is secured by an inserted bar-pin. MacTavish (U.S. Pat. No. 4,718,547) relates to a receptacle having a hinged closure member for receiving a compact disc. Soltis (U.S. Pat. No. 4,805,769) relates to a CD security holder comprising a pivoting lid member. Hehn (U.S. Pat. No. 4,871,065) relates to a one-piece molded plastic package for securely holding and displaying a CD.
Some of the foregoing documents concern containers comprising insertable drawers. Patents of Herr (U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,771,883, 4,881,640, and 4,899,875) relate to a drawer for storing discs within an outer housing. Tab members prevent the drawer from being completely withdrawn from the housing, and there are means for preventing outward movement of the drawer unless sufficient force is used. Stark (U.S. Pat. No. 4,773,061) relates to a carrier for a disc, comprising releasable latching means on the carrier frame for selectively engaging a disc and urging the disc into engagement with disc support means. Grobecker (U.S. Pat. No. 4,916,567) relates to a tray that is inserted into a bottom section and a latching element that latches a retaining element in its closed position. Frost (PCT WO 87/05884) concerns a shell, a drawer that can slide to and fro in the shell, and lock means for retaining the drawer inside the shell in a closed locked position. When pressure is applied to the lock means, the drawer is released from the closed locked position.
Moss (U.S. Pat. No. 4,694,954) relates to a combination of compact disc and enclosure. The convertible enclosure is folded from a merchandising configuration to a compact storage configuration. In the merchandising configuration, the enclosure's leaf-like elements are maintained in assembled condition by a transparent shrink wrap, which holds those elements closed about a stiffener. Philosophe (U.S. Pat. No. 4,702,369) relates to a storage container having a drawer-like receptacle and shell-like cover for releasably supporting the drawer-like receptacle.
Despite all of these, there is a continuing need for a packaging system for displaying CDs and other articles for sale and the like that minimizes the amount of packaging that must be discarded after purchase without significantly increasing complexity or cost and, desirably, that reduces complexity and cost.